To: exodus
Once again, you tell me that I only have the rights my government listed in the Constitution.
Rights do not come from government, general_re.
That may very well be, but asserting a right that society does not recognize or protect is of no practical value whatsoever. We have a contract enumerating the rights that society recognizes and protects - if you wish to add to that list, there is a procedure for so doing.
"Let me say it yet again: The rights of the people come from God. The powers of government come from the people. The American people delegated the specific powers they wanted the federal government to have through the Constitution. And any additional powers they wanted to grant were supposed to be added by amendment.
"It's largely because we've forgotten these simple principles that the country is in so much trouble..."
"And the result of the loss of our original political idiom has been, as I say, to invert the original presumptions. The average American, whether he has had high-school civics or a degree in political science, is apt to assume that the Constitution somehow empowers the government to do nearly anything, while implicitly limiting our rights by listing them."
Joseph Sobran, How Tyranny Came To America
Written before 9/11, incidentally.